Pubdate: Mon, 25 Feb 2013
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2013 The Buffalo News
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/GXIzebQL
Website: http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author: Tom Precious

NO RELIEF FOR PAIN IN POT REFORM

Medical Marijuana Isn't Part of Decriminalization

ALBANY - One of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's top "progressive" priorities 
for this legislative session is the decriminalization of 25 grams or 
less of marijuana  the equivalent of about 0.9 ounce, or 40 to 50 
joints  so that young people, especially minorities, don't get 
criminal records that haunt them for years to come.

"We want to decriminalize low levels of marijuana so we're not going 
to have those arrests for stop-and-frisk anymore," Cuomo told a 
gathering of black and Hispanic state lawmakers last weekend in Albany.

And with a shared leadership of Republicans and breakaway Democrats 
in the State Senate, the prospects for passage are more likely than 
ever before.

Yet Cuomo so far has declined to back efforts to permit people with 
certain diseases and chronic painful conditions  from cancer to 
multiple sclerosis  to legally obtain marijuana as a way to help them 
cope with pain and the effects of chemotherapy.

"It's a great disconnect, and it bothers me quite a bit," said Maxine 
Murphy, a Buffalo resident and ordained minister who has been out of 
work since an on-the-job injury in 1995 that forced her to undergo 
back surgery.

"He certainly doesn't care about people who need medical marijuana. 
Help us first," said Joel Peacock, a South Buffalo resident who has 
been in chronic pain since a 2001 car accident.

Murphy and Peacock have something in common: They would love to get 
off or sharply reduce their prescribed painkillers and all the side 
effects they've experienced from the powerful drugs. Limited access 
to marijuana, which they have both tried and which they both say has 
relieved their painful symptoms, is a solution if done in a 
controlled environment and limited to certain kinds of medical 
conditions, they say.

They don't understand the logic of Cuomo backing decriminalization of 
marijuana for recreational use yet not supporting ways for people 
with life threatening and chronic conditions to legally obtain the 
drug. Is 2013 their year? A new effort is about to begin this week 
when lawmakers unveil changes to legislation that has passed in the 
Assembly but stalled in the Senate. The legislation would create a 
controlled system in which doctors could write marijuana 
prescriptions for certain patients, who could then obtain the drug in 
limited supplies from state controlled agents.

Backers say the environment is right for passage this year.

For starters, the Senate bill is sponsored again by Sen. Diane 
Savino, a Staten Island Democrat. She is one of five breakaway 
Democrats who have formed a coalition with Senate Republicans to 
control the Senate, which means Savino has far more political power 
in the chamber this year than she did a year ago.

If Savino, using her new powers, can force a floor vote in the 
Senate, backers say it would pass there, too, with Democratic and 
some GOP support.

Savino and the Assembly sponsor, Richard Gottfried, a 42-year veteran 
Democratic lawmaker from Manhattan who is chairman of the Assembly 
Health Committee, are scheduled to introduce a new measure designed 
to address past opposition.

For starters, it will not permit patients to grow their own 
marijuana, and it would add marijuana to the list of drugs tracked in 
real time by doctors and pharmacists under a new law scheduled to 
take effect later this year.

And they are examining how to create a system, similar to Colorado's, 
where the drug is monitored from its seed through plant growth to 
purchase by a patient.

Savino said there is movement on the issue, but that negotiations 
with the governor's office won't take place until after the state 
budget is adopted near the end of March. Cuomo's talk about changing 
marijuana possession laws could benefit the push for medical marijuana.

"Sometimes, all the planets come into alignment, but we're not there 
yet," she said.

Cuomo was asked last week if his position on the topic, which has 
been one of opposition, has evolved. "No," he responded. A Cuomo 
spokesman dismissed any notion that the governor is sending mixed 
marijuana policy messages.

"The two issues are completely separate and distinct," Richard 
Azzopardi said of medical marijuana efforts and Cuomo's plan to 
decriminalize 25 or fewer grams of pot.

"The governor's stop-and-frisk reforms are about fixing a system that 
disproportionately leaves black and Latino youths with a criminal 
record. The medical marijuana debate focuses squarely on the 
medicinal value of marijuana and how it compares to federally 
approved treatments," Azzopardi said.

Critics said the idea of embracing unproven treatments is risky.

Mike Long, chairman of the state Conservative Party, said his group 
is "staunchly opposed" to legalizing medical marijuana. Marijuana is 
a gateway drug, and the state would be sending the wrong signal to 
young people if it is decriminalized, he said.

"It would be a huge mistake," said Long, adding concerns about 
diversion of marijuana from patients to nonpatients.

Legal painkillers have side-effects, but so, too, does marijuana, Long said.

"In all honesty, I think the medical field has enough drugs for 
people who are in need," he said.

Medical marijuana legislation would easily pass again in the Assembly.

The 18 states that have legalized medical marijuana have done so 
through a combination of voter initiative ballot measures or, in the 
case of Connecticut, the most recent state to do so, by statute 
approved by lawmakers and governors.

Advocates, who now include the state's Independence Party, dismiss 
criticism that the measure would encourage people to get high, noting 
there are different ways to take the drug to limit its effects and 
that many patients only take marijuana at night as a way to help them sleep.

Peacock, who first spoke out on the issue in a Buffalo News article 
five years ago, said the power of the pharmaceutical industry is 
being felt on the matter.

"Let's forget about the politics. This is about people in pain. It's 
got nothing to do with people being liberal or conservative or 
Democratic or Republican. It's to help people," he said.

Peacock, who can afford prescription painkillers under his Medicare 
coverage, said they would cost $900 a month if he was paying out of 
pocket. He said when he took marijuana years ago it stopped the 
headaches and stomach cramps he suffers from the pills. But he is in 
a Catch-22 situation. His pain management doctor requires patients to 
get tested for recreational drug use each month.

"If they catch it in my system, they can't treat me anymore," he said.

Murphy said she has permanent nerve damage that affects the right 
side of her body.

"It's an uncomfortable, constant pain," she said, as she talked about 
her journey through the prescription painkiller route.

"It's not like we'd be getting high for the sake of getting high. 
It's not a leisure drug," she said of patients who want the medical 
marijuana bill approved. She also said she favors case studies in New 
York to test the effectiveness of the idea.

"But until insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies come up 
with a way to make money off it, it's not going to happen," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom